


To Beat The Waters

by Cyan_Sky1



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Flashbacks, It took me forever to finish writing this story but it’s here and I’m proud of it, Kind of a strange plot twist but whatever I tried to explain it as thoroughly as I could, M/M, Memories, One Sided Love, Some Humor, Some survival horror themes, Sonic you impulsive bastard, Tails you phyco bitch, Unrequited Love, WELP HERE WE GO AGAIN, rated for the sometimes graphic imagery and cursing, some blood, wow there’s a lot of flashbacks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-26
Updated: 2018-03-26
Packaged: 2019-04-08 12:23:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14105304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cyan_Sky1/pseuds/Cyan_Sky1
Summary: Sonic tries to face his fears and attempts to swim on his own to impress Tails, but finds himself stuck in the ocean with no way out. While he waits for Tails to come to his rescue, he reminisces of his and Tails’s relationship.





	1. Chapter 1

Sonic stares at the endless blue shore ahead of him. He can already feel the anxiety creeping up on him, but shakes it off. He needs to prove to himself, and to Tails, that he could truly face his fears when he needs to. He doesn’t need help. He can do this. He already took off his gloves and shoes, they’re on the shore next to him where he stands. He just needs to walk into the water and start swimming. Easy as that. He’s already had the swimming lessons at the kiddy pool, and knows how to do a basic paddle. So this should be easy as pie. Then why, why is his head making this so difficult? 

The cobalt hedgehog swallows down a gulp of air after realizing he was holding it. He looks down at his hands, seeing that they’re both clenched into tight fists, so tight they’re shaking. That’s ok. That’s normal. He knows this is a normal reaction that anyone would have facing their fears. 

He takes a step towards the water. Another. Then another. He can feel the water grazing his feet now. He needs to close his eyes and just run into it. ‘Just run,’ Sonic says in his head, ‘Run, run, run, run!’ Before he knew it, he launched himself into the water, swimming as fast as he can with his eyes closed. He’s breathing much faster then he usually does while he runs, indicating that he may be breathing fast because of how scared he is. But his eyes are closed. He can’t see. He can only feel. He can’t feel the ocean floor under his feet anymore. He’s going much further then he meant to. He’s begging himself to stop running, stop running, but the one thing his nerves has always taught him to do is run when he’s scared. And he’s scared for his life. But he knows, he knows he just needs to stop. He’s in too deep, too deep-

“AGH!” He feels a sharp jab as a sudden huge rock emerging from the waters cuts his leg and gets him to open his eyes and stop running at the same time. The saltwater makes the cut sting as the blood drips into the blue water. Sonic’s eyes widen and starts to hyperventilate when he sees how far into the water he’s gotten. He can’t even see the shore’s horizon from here. Sonic grips onto the rock that cut him to steady himself and try to catch his breath. He bought this on himself. He just couldn’t stop running. But now it’s too late. Now he’s hanging for dear life on a jagged rock, his leg badly cut and making his blue fur stain red. 

Luckily, Sonic bought his communicator with him. Originally he bought it so he could call Tails right after swimming and brag to him that he did it all by himself. But now he needs to do it for a much different reason. The blue blur stops himself right before punching in Tail’s number, though. What would he say when he finds out what he’s done? Would he laugh at him, humiliate him for getting himself stuck in who knows where in the ocean while trying to prove that he could swim by himself? Would he scream at him for being so stupid that he thought he could do this alone? Sonic couldn’t handle that. He can’t handle his best buddy shaming him. He just can’t. Sonic notices he’s close to hyperventilating again, and tries to take another steadying breath. He looks down at his leg again, and finally notices just how bad it is. The cut was ragged, leaving sharp lines in his skin where it left the imprint. The blood is trailing down his leg in several steams, slightly clearer than usual because of how wet his fur is from the water. There’s still some pebbles embedded in the cut and the area surrounding it, that along with the saltwater making it burn painfully. He knows if he lets go of the rock, then he won’t be able to swim with how badly his leg is torn up. 

What can he do now?

First order of business, Sonic decides, is to try and clean the cut and stop it from bleeding. Tails has once gave him a crash course on how to stop a wound from bleeding before, out of fear that this kind of situation would happen someday. Sonic silently thanks Tails for that as he sits on the rock and begins to work.

First, Sonic tried to rinse off the leftover gravel with the saltwater. It stung so much he had to grit his teeth to keep from screaming, but he managed to clean his wound enough so he can see it better. The cut was long enough to almost reach his knee, but ends before it reaches where his ankles and feet are submerged in the water. Next, the hedgehog takes off one of his socks, that he kept on for some reason, and rips the fabric and wrings it out to drain it of all of the water that it soaked in. He then ties it tightly above the cut, tugging it for good measure. 

Now that his cut has been properly treated, he turned his attention back to the communicator in his hands and realized something he didn’t notice before. It got water damaged. The realization makes Sonic’s heart skip a beat, but then remembered something Tails said to him once. The communicators are weather proof, however if it’s exposed to certain weather conditions for too long you need to wait for it to dry itself out for about 1 hour. Sonic mutters a curse under his breath. Waiting in the middle of the ocean sitting on a jagged rock that was starting to make his back ache for an hour was the last thing he wanted to do now. But that seemed to be the only option he has.

Sonic sets the communicator next to him to dry, and lets his mind wander...


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sonic gets a confusing flashback and finally talks to Tails to signal his need of a rescue.

“Hey, Sonic!” Tails’s young and youthful voice cheerfully greets Sonic as he runs up to him, calmly resting on the trunk of a tree. Sonic opened one eye and smiled at his best friend, feeling the breeze and the bright sun shine down on him. The green grass rustles in the breeze and gets slightly crumpled where Tails stops to stand in front of Sonic’s side. 

“I just made a new invention!” The orange fox holds out the strange device for Sonic to see, “I call it the communicator! We can use this to talk to each other while on missions! It’s like a walkie talkie, only it’s weather proof. But if it’s exposed to certain weather conditions, you can wait for it to dry itself out for about an hour. And you can clip it to your ear! Look!” The two tailed fox leans down on his knees to meet at Sonic’s level, and before Sonic could stop him, feels Tails start to clip the communicator to his ear. 

Both of his eyes open wide and he blushes out of surprise at the sudden contact of one of his most sensitive areas. Tails fumbles a bit and Sonic sees a small pink tongue peek out of his white lips as he tries to clip the device on his ear correctly. When he finally puts it on, he smiles. But when his baby blue eyes meets Sonic’s emerald ones, he stops and flushed a deep pink, realizing he not only invaded Sonic’s personal space, but messed with a body part many Mobians are very sensitive with. It’s considered bad manners to very suddenly tug, bite, or touch a ear of another, as ears are usually very delicate. His hands stay hovered over the cobalt hedgehog’s ears, and they remain staring at each other, not knowing what to do next. Another breeze rolls by and Tails watches Sonic’s quills rustle in the breeze, and Sonic stares at Tail’s face.  
“Sorry.” The fox says in a hushed whisper, not wanting to ruin this sudden tender moment between the two of them.   
“It’s ok.” Sonic whispers back and smiles.

——

The cobalt hedgehog slowly opened his eyes and was hit with a wave of disappointment as he realized he was no longer in a sunny landscape with Tails, but instead where he first dozed off at. In the middle of a deep blue ocean, with grey blue skies beginning to darken above him. 

“Out of all of the flashbacks I could get, why would it be a memory that I already recalled earlier?” Sonic said out loud to himself, wondering. He propped one of his feet up and used his knee to rest his arm on, leaving the damaged leg down. But then he recalls that much more happened in the dream that he hadn’t remembered before. Had...had him and Tails always been that quiet and tender towards one another when they were alone? Or was that a one time thing that happened between them? Sonic used his other hand to massage his forehead. This is not something he should be contemplating on in the middle of the ocean.

He turned around to check on the communicator that Tails gave him so long ago, only to see that the screen was turned on, and Tails’s contact image was visible. He must of tried to communicate with him while he was sleeping. Sonic picked up the device and took a closer look at the picture. Tails was very young when he took this picture. Around 13, and when Sonic was 15, if Sonic could recall correctly. He took it around the time he first invented the device. His features now are more sharper then the ones in the picture shown to him. He’s also become more lean and lost all of his baby fat after all of the adventures he had with him. He’s now 19, and if Sonic was honest with himself he grew up to be extremely handsome. Sonic blushes and shakes his head.

“Just call him, ya dingus.” The blue blur mumbled to himself again as he finally punched in Tails’s contact number. Much to his surprise, he picked up on the first ring, which gave Sonic hardly enough time to finish clipping the communicator to his ear.  
“Sonic, there you are!” Said hedgehog could still hear his best friend’s high pitched voice even when the communicator wasn’t quite properly clipped to his ear. Even when Tails grew up, his voice remained slightly high pitched.  
“I tried to contact you earlier, but you never answered. Is everything ok?” The fox’s voice gave away his concern and worry for the blue hero.

It was there that Sonic realized he had no idea what he was supposed to say. He didn’t rehearse the conversation in his head or anything. A moment of silence fell between the fox and the hedgehog, and he could hear the plane engine, which means Tails is currently flying the Tornado. But the moment of silence also allowed the two tailed fox to hear the waves of water all around Sonic. It took him a moment to comprehend but he still quickly came to a conclusion.

“ARE YOU NEAR THE OCEAN RIGHT NOW?!”  
“Correction, stuck in the middle of it. Sitting on a rock.”  
“HOW IN THE WORLD DID YOU END UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FUCKING OCEAN?!”  
“I....erm....” The blue blur hesitates and feels his cheeks burn up, “I wanted to prove....that I could swim in the water....if I needed to.” He could hear his groan of disbelief and frustration on the other end, and swore he could hear him face palm.  
“But I went overboard, and I cut my leg pretty bad-“  
“Did you patch it up with the nursing skills I gave you?”  
“Yeah, actually.”   
“Good. I’m using the tracking device on your communicator to narrow down your location and-oh shit.” Sonic heard Tails gasp out of fear.  
“What? What is it?”  
“Your communicator suffered enough water damage to mess up the tracking signal. It might take me a while to find you.”  
“How long are we talking here?”  
Another brief moment of silence took place between the two as Tails frantically does some quick calculations to answer Sonic’s question.  
“Approximately one and a half hours.”  
“WHAT?!” A sudden crushing wave of fear shook Sonic to his core and almost knocked him out of his rock seat.  
“I can’t be here for that fucking long! I was already out here for an hour!”  
“Well you should have thought of that when you began swimming. Just....hang in there ok?” The last sentence sounded so genuine it calmed the blue hedgehog down a little.  
“Al...alright. See you soon?”  
“Yeah. See you soon.” And with that, the genius hung up on the speedster, leaving him alone to his thoughts in the crashing waves surrounding him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another flashback + A angry and confused Sonic + A anxious Tails + a thunder storm = A shit show

Sonic woke up on Tails’s couch. He slowly opens his eyes as he recalls how he got there. It was Friendship Movie Night, at least that’s what Tails called it. Yes, he remembers now. He fell asleep during the movie. The TV in front of him now showed a dim black screen, meaning the movie long since ended. He could hear the soft chirps of the crickets outside, with the moonlight shining down on him through the window. His eyes trail down to the clock that the yellow fox kept right below the TV. It’s 12:23 in the morning. Suddenly, Sonic felt a sudden shift of weight on his middle and a content sigh. He looks down, only to find his best friend is sleeping on top of him, a smile on his face. His tails were on top of his lap, his body nuzzling at his side. Sonic’s arm was wrapped around the fox, hugging his form protectively. His other arm was draped across the couch. His feet were crossed in front of him, resting on the foot rest. 

How, how did they get in this position? Sonic’s thoughts were quickly interrupted when the genius’s ear flicked. Since when did Tails’s ears twitch? But, he suddenly became entranced by them. His face, his body, his tails...they were all still. Usually whenever the blue blur comes to greet him he’s always on the move, his tails always constantly swishing behind him and his hands always fidgeting on a new invention. Very rarely can Sonic actually stop to really see him. His features were softened by the fuzzy tufts of white fur at the sides of his muzzle, which Sonic never really paid much attention to before. But now, now that he’s really looking at him...he’s realizing how cute he is.   
‘No, god no I can’t think that about him!’ He shook his head a little and screwed his eyes shut to keep from looking at the fox any longer. 

But...why not? They’ve been best friends for years. They know each other inside and out....and yet....  
Sonic found himself kissing the top of Tails’s forehead before he could stop. His fur felt soft against his lips, and a sense of peace washed over him as he pulled away and snuggled closer to him. He knew that what he did was wrong, but at the same time it felt so nice. Sonic went back to sleep, reveling in the feeling of Tails’s fur and tails surrounding him. He’ll just chop it off to weird sleeping habits if they wake up still cuddling in the morning. 

———-

“Tails...”  
Sonic opened his eyes again, and looked down to see he was cuddling a sharp part of the rock. It didn’t cut him in his sleep, but he did feel some sharp pressure where the pointy parts of the rocks were on his skin. He quickly moved his arms back to his sides and rubbed where the rocks poked him.   
“I’m so tired of these stupid rocks! And this stupid water! And this stupid cut on my leg!” The blue hedgehog kicked the water with his good leg to empathize his point.

Ok, no more trying to hide that past memory and what it told him. He likes Tails. And it’s possible he may like him back, but he doesn’t have enough evidence to support that. How in the world did he not know this? And how in the world did he forget these important memories?

Boom

Suddenly a huge wave of water splashed down on the blue blur, soaking his quills so badly he looks like a drowned rat. A huge bolt of lighting struck the water and scared the wits out of Sonic, almost slipping off the rock when he jumped. The thunder crashed down in the sky, making his ears ring and for a split second made him think he lost his hearing.

Ok. He completely understood Tails’s fear of thunder now.

He was, after all, literally right in the center of one.

——

Tails’s grip on the yoke tightened as he arrives at the beginning of the ocean, his eyes searching desperately for the blue hedgehog. But he isn’t anywhere to be seen.

‘He must’ve Fran further down the ocean. He did say he was sitting on a rock...’ The genius looked for a field of rocks but still didn’t see any. He shifted the X-Tornado back to drive and slowly flew around the ocean, letting his mind wander as he looks around.

—-

Tails swore Sonic could hear his heart beat thumping right now, but the sound of the wind blowing around them must be drowning it out. His eyes feel like they’re holding his captive, making the lump in his throat hard to swallow. He totally just played with his crush’s ear without even realizing it. But he seems totally relaxed, like what he did don’t bother him at all. 

It really didn’t bother him at all?

He made sure to whisper sorry to him, making sure he doesn’t ruin his calm mood. He whispers back that it’s ok.

——-

He actually did it. He managed to cuddle up to him without him waking up. He’s in pure bliss now, relishing in the feeling of his soft yet prickly quills grazing his fur. The contrast was like heaven in his mind. The crickets chirped the night away as Tails falls into a peaceful slumber, noting the protective arm around him tightened just a little.

—-

Tails treasured those memories closely, never wanting to let them go. But then that day ruined everything...

—-

He’s alone again.

Tails knows something’s up with him, but doesn’t know how to confront him about it. God knows nowadays he doesn’t know how to talk to him about anything. All of the words of love he wants to say to him get caught up in his throat, almost choking him every time, but he always ends up swallowing them back down anyway. 

He knows he shouldn’t feel this way. God, he shouldn’t feel this way. They’re heroes. Their job is to save the world. So why, why is his heart getting in the way of that? Is there a scientific explanation for these feelings? Well, he knows that feelings of love are created when certain chemicals in your brain, testosterone and oestrogen, are ignited. Even when he knows that though he still can’t stop these emotions. And he also knows there’s only one explanation needed for that: Euphoria, the chemical of happiness, is also involved in the scientific love making. And that is simply beyond anyone’s control. Even if he tried to go into his brain and stop these chemical reactions, it would be the equivalent to amputating his arm just to stop him from writing. It would be catastrophically over the top, and an overall waste of time. But he can’t help thinking about when he could do the procedure when he’s looking at his eyes.

He’s just standing there. Looking at the floor, one hand clenched into a loose fist and the other on his chest. He looks to be deep in thought, Tails noted, with something that looks like deep melancholy in his eyes. Does he have depression? No, he’s almost always smiling all the time, always cheerfully greeting anyone who comes in his way. But at the same time, it could be very possible. He’s always sleeping late, smiling and making jokes even when it’s not really necessary(It could mean that he’s trying too hard to pretend to be happy), and, as of late, being seen staring at the ground with a deep set frown and sad looking eyes. 

If he truly is depressed, Tails should do something, right? Find a way to snap him out of it. Get him to smile again, even if it’s a fake one. It may sound selfish, but even a possibly fake smile directed at him would make the euphoria in his brain go crazy. But getting him to smile again isn’t for Tails, it’s for him. He must remember that above all else.

“Hey, Sonic!” He didn’t mean for his voice to be so loud, but he definitely caught his attention. Suddenly all of the deep sadness in his green eyes vanished, and was replaced with something like....reluctant happiness? Even still, Sonic waved at Tails and smiled, which made the fox blush. But just before he could say anything else however, another voice joined in on the greetings.   
“SONIC!” Amy cheerfully called out as she ran right into Sonic and wrapped him around her arms. The hedgehog was clearly taken aback at the sudden physical contact, but he still turned the smile that was originally made for Tails to her, not wrapping his arms around her in return.

Tails felt something that he had never felt before at that moment, although he has read many books and watched many movies that try to describe it. But none of those descriptions could capture the feeling, not even close. He knew that now. His chest became tightened as he felt something like a sword stab through his heart. Suddenly, all of the colors around him became grey, his eyes filled up with tears, and he flew away before Sonic could see them. 

——

The cold wind made the tears fly off his face as he flew. Usually, he would welcome and invite the blue skies surrounding him, but now all of the colors were too much. They’re too blue. Too....like him. He should have known he would never like him. Of course he doesn’t like him like that. They’re best friends. How could he expect him to want to be anything more than that? But he can’t obsess over that now. Besides, he did make sure that all of the problems he had were fixed after that day...


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> OOPS CLIFFHANGER BITCH-

He was so done with this confusion. So fucking done. Sonic saw Tails run away from him when Amy hugged him, and it made his skin pale. Was...was Tails JELOUS? It seemed awfully apparent after that display. He saw Amy turn her head to look where Tails flew off. “What was that about?” Her head cocked to one side and looked back at Sonic for an answer. But he had no voice to answer her with. 

Sonic didn’t say another word to Amy as he ran after Tails.

——-

He’s starting to remember now. He’s starting to remember everything. Another strike of lightning hit Sonic’s rock and it splintered in pieces, knocking Sonic into the water. The cut on his leg stings as he flaps around frantically trying to stay afloat.

——

“Tails, TAILS!” Sonic ran into Tails’s workshop. He’s nowhere to be seen. 

Sonic didn’t see when Tails hits him with a ray gun, shooting him right in the back of his head and knocking him out.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This cheesy ass ending tho

Tails had hit Sonic with a memory eraser gun. To erase any and all pain from his life, to erase all the confusion in his head that may make him think that Tails likes him. He wasn’t going to risk being rejected by Sonic, not like this. 

He knew that what he did was wrong. Beyond wrong. But when he did it, his head was out of reason. Out of anything resembling common sense. He made sure to only erase memories that involved the chemicals of love in Sonic’s head, anything that could connect Sonic’s memory to Tails involving love or confusion. So Sonic wouldn’t have to feel the pain he felt.

He did make sure that there was a way to restore the memories, though.

Tails gasps as he recalls what Sonic has to do to have his memories back. He just had to think hard enough. And Sonic doesn’t really think unless he has to, unless he’s in real danger. 

He could be thinking right now, he could be in danger too. 

It’s possible that he’s unlocked all of the memories that Tails tried to erase from his mind. 

Before he could think any further, a huge lighting bolt hit the waters about 500 meters where Tails was. But when he squinted hard enough, he could see the beginning of a rock field. He’s close.

The two tailed fox revved his engine into high gear as he soared his plane where Sonic is. Perhaps if he made it on time he could explain everything to Sonic.

—-

Water, water, water.

It’s all around him.

It’s filling up his lungs, he’s desperately trying to cough it out. 

He’s drowning, drowning, drowning.

He feels a soft glove pull at his wrist. 

——

“Sonic, Sonic, Sonic!” Tails is preforming CPR on the shore of the sea. He cringes when he hears the water swimming around in Sonic’s chest. And the pouring rain isn’t helping him in the least bit, making it all the more harder to see if his attempt at saving Sonic’s life is working.

Suddenly, a huge spurt of water spits out of the blue hedgehog’s mouth, and a gasp of air followed right after words. He’s moving now, holding his chest as he coughs up more water, one spurt at a time. “Oh thank god you’re ok!” The orange fox was surprised when he felt his eyes tear up, but he let the tears flow freely anyway.  
“I-I was so scared and I-“  
“-Tails.” Sonic’s voice was scratchy from all of the coughing. He looked up at his sidekick with an unreadable expression.   
“Why, why did you erase those memories?” Tails knew that Sonic must’ve remembered, but he didn’t expect him to figure it all out.   
“How-how did you-“  
“I know how to figure things out. The last thing I remember you doing before I got zapped was your ray gun. I can connect two and two together.” The blue blur sat up and shrugged, still looking at Tails with hard eyes.

“I....I.....” The two tailed fox was speechless. He had no idea where to begin. He felt his breath hitch as his ears flattened to his skull.  
“I d-didn’t want to loose you.” He began to sob now, “I knew you didn’t like me, and I knew you figured out that I like you when I ran away. I thought if....I-I thought if I got rid of all of the memories that helped you figure it out th-then you wouldn’t leave m-me.” As soon as he finished saying the last sentence, Tails completely broke down in tears, hiding his face from Sonic’s so he wouldn’t have to see his expression. Before Sonic could begin to speak, Tails continued.  
“A-And I could tell you were looking really sad that day, and I guess I got it in my head that you were starting to figure out that I liked you, a-and it was making you depressed-“  
“You’re partly right.” Sonic interrupted, “I was thinking about you. But I wasn’t depressed because of you. I was trying to figure out if you liked me, and when you ran away I knew then that you liked me. So I was running after you to tell you that I liked you too. Tails, I was never depressed, not in the least bit. And I never wanted to forget all of the memories we share together. It may have took me three hours trapped in the middle of the ocean to figure it out, but the point is I did. I....I love you Tails.”

Time seemed to stop. No longer did Tails care that his fur was soaked, that loud thunder crashed in the distance, that Sonic reeked of saltwater. He finally said those three little words his heart had been praying for him to say after all this time.  
And his heart melted when Sonic kissed him right there at the beach’s shores. 

“Just please....promise me you won’t try to erase my memories in an attempt to cover up your feelings ever again. Ok?” Tails let out a breathless giggle after Sonic broke their kiss to speak.  
“I promise.”


End file.
